Pipe cleaner, cigarette holder, and ash tray combination



June 11, 1968 w. B. BEUSCHER PIPE CLEANER, CIGARETTE HOLDER, AND ASH TRAY COMBINATION Filed Oct. 20, 1966 INVENTOR. Yliam 6i flame/ref 4 Afro/way.

United States Patent 3,387,614 PIPE CLEANER, CIGARETTE HOLDER, AND ASH TRAY COMBINATION William B. Beuscher, 5244 Mohawk Drive, Shawnee Mission, Kans. 66205 Filed Oct. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 588,210 Claims. (Cl. 131232) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in smoking accessories, and has as its principal object the provision of an ash tray having novel means associated therewith for cleaning the interior of the bowl of a smoking pipe, and also for holding a lighted cigarette whenever the smoker desires to put it down for any reason. Also, the pipe cleaning elements have application and utility apart from the ash tray combination.

One object of the present invention is the provision of a combination of the character described in which the elements are so arranged that any ashes, tobacco or the like removed from a pipe, and any ashes or flame falling from a lighted cigarette, will fall into the ash tray, thereby promoting safety and neatness.

Another object is the provision of a pipe cleaner which in itself has certain functional advantages, in that it will clean pipes of any size or contour, having spring-loaded blades which will follow and conform to pipe bowls of virtually any configuration, and which will not force or pack the pipe dottle into the smoke passage of the pipe stem, which commonly occurs with many types of pipe cleaners in common usage.

Other objects are simplicity and economy of construction, efliciency and dependability of operation, and an attractive, decorative appearance.

With these objects in view, as well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specification, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken on line II of FIG. 2 of an ash tray having pipe cleaner and cigarette holder elements mounted therein in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1, showing the blades of the pipe cleaner introduced partially into the bowl of a pipe in the cleaning operation,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the blades fully inserted into the pipe bowl, and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the use of the device as a holder for a lighted cigarette.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 applies generally to an ash tray of ordinary configuration, being bowlshaped with a base 4 and an upturned peripheral edge 6. While the tray shown may be circular in a horizontal plane, the particular configuration thereof is not pertinent to the present invention. Also, it may be formed of any suitable material.

Secured centrally of the base portion 4 of the ash tray are a pair of upwardly extending fingers each indicated generally by the numeral 8. Said fingers are substantially identical with each other, and each is formed of a flat strip of spring steel or other suitable material. Each finger comprises a base portion and a blade portion 12. The lower ends of base portions 10 are disposed in horizontal overlapping relation on tray base 4, being secured thereto by a bolt 14, and extend oppositely from said bolt. The base portions of the fingers are then bent upwardly adjacent said bolt, as at 16, about axes parallel to their planes, to form upward-1y convergent legs 18, and then bent outwardly at the upper ends of legs 18, as at 20,

3,387,614 Patented June 11, 1968 ice to form upwardly divergent legs 22. Blade portion 12 of each finger is essentially planar, but is disposed in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of leg 22. Blade 12 is joined to leg 22 along substantially the entire length of the latter, but extends well above the upper end of said leg 22. Thus the blades 12 can be flexed toward or away from each other very easily by the yieldability of leg portions 18 thereof, but will strongly resist relative flexing thereof in a direction at right angles to their normal plane of relative movement. This resistance is a result of the relatively great width of the strips from which the fingers are formed, and also of the fact that each finger, between the upper end of leg 22 (point 24 in FIGS. 1 and 2) and the lower end of blade 12 (point 26 in FIGS. 1 and 2) is of angled cross-sectional contour, whereby to strongly resist flexure in any direction. On the other hand, the portions of blades 12 above points 24 are planar and may be relatively easily flexed transversely to their planes. Moreover, it will be seen in FIG. 2 that blades 12, while both disposed in planes parallel to the direction of normal relative movement of the fingers, are not themselves normally coplanar with each other. Instead, the planes of said blades intersect along a horizontal line approximately at the elevation of the upper ends of legs 22 (at point 24) so that both the upper and lower ends of said fingers are normally spaced apart in a direction at right angles to their planes. The distal edges 28 and the outer ends 30 of blades 12 are smoothly and convexly curved. While the exact curvature of these edges is not particularly critical, the radius of curvature of ends 30 should be less than the radius of spherical curvature of the bottom portion 32 of the smallest bowl cavity 34 likely to be encountered in a conventional smoking pipe 36, and the width of each blade should be less than half the diameter of said smallest bowl cavity. The smoke passage 38 of the pipe of course communicates with the bottom portions 32 of the bowl cavity.

The use of the fingers 8 as a cleaning device for clean ing pipes is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The bowl cavity 34 of the pipe is inverted and applied over the upper or blade ends of fingers 8 as shown in FIG. 3. Since the distal edges 28 of blades 12 are, when the fingers are relaxed, spaced apart by a distance greater than the diameter of the bowl, introduction of the blades into the bowl requires that the fingers supporting the blades be flexed toward each other, so that blade edges 28 are pressed resiliently outwardly against the bowl surface. The pipe bowl is then manually rotated or oscillated about its axis, and gradually lowered over the blades, so that the entire interior surface of the bowl cavity is scraped by edges 28 and 30 of the blades, the flexibility of the fingers permitting the edges to follow the bowl contour accurately despite variations in the bowl contour, such as whether it is conical as shown or cylindrical or whether its crosssectional contour is perfectly circular or not. Of course, any ash, caked tobacco or dottle removed in this manner falls neatly into the ash tray. Eventually, the blades will be forced together, legs 22 of the fingers contacting, as shown in FIG. 4, at which time the ends of the blades extend the full depth of the bowl and almost meet at the axis of said bowl, so that virtually the entire bowl surface has by that time been traversed and cleaned. The blades have little or no tendency to force or pack the dottle into the smoke passage 38 of the pipe stem, which is a common, though objectionable, occurrence in pipe cleaners of many common types.

It will be appreciated that the tobacco is likely to be most solidly caked in the bottom of the pipe bowl particularly in the hemispherical portion 3-2 thereof, and that additional pressure of the blades thereagainst may therefore be required to clean this portion of the bowl provides a solution to this problem. As shown in FIG. 2,

the planes of blade 12 are normally upwardly divergent, the planes of their upper tips being spaced apart. Therefore, the planes of the blade tips are not disposed at right angles to the bowl surface they contact, but at an acute angle thereto. Therefore, so ,long as the pipe bowl is rotated against the vertical slope of the blades (counter clockwise as viewed from above with the structure illustrated) the bowl will exert a force on the blade edges tending to flex said blades transversely to their planes towarda position in which the extreme tips of said blades actually are coplanar. This flexing force is exerted on the blades independently of the forces exerted thereon tending to move said blades closer together in the direction of normal relative movement of the fingers, and can be accomplished only by flexing of the portions of the blades extending above the upper ends 24 of the base portions of the fingers, the remainder of the fingers being reinforced against flexing in this direction as previously described. Since these extended portions of the blades are quite short as compared to the total length of the fingers, their resistance to the transverse fiexure is much greater than the resistance to flexure of the whole finger, and they hence apply a greater force against the pipe bowl than wouldotherwise be possible. The transverse fiexure of the blades is of course most pronounced when the points of contact of said blades with the pipe are close to the extreme ends of the blades and this occurs when the blades have been extended deeply into the pipe bowl. Therefore the added scraping pressureis applied at the time it is most needed, when the blades are dislodging the tobacco cake in the bottom of the bowl.

FIG. shows the use of fingers 8 as a holder for a lighted cigarette 40. The legs 22 of the base portions 10 of the legs provide opposed, planar, upwardly divergent surfaces 42, between which the cigarette may be pressed downwardly to spring the fingers slightly apartLThe ciga-v rette will then be gripped and supported firmly but gently by the resilience of the fingers, but can easily be lifted free whenever desired. Also, since the fingers are disposed centrally of the ash tray, any ashes or burning tobacco which may fall from the lighted end of the cigarette will of course fall into the ash tray.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be readily apparent that many minor changes of structure and operation could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims. For example, it will be apparent that fingers 8 have utility as a pipe cleaner apant from its combination with an ash tray, and could be supplied as a pipe cleaner adapted to be carried in the smokers pocket, preferably carrying case.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A smoking pipe cleaning device comprising:

to form the base portions 10 (a) a pair of elongated resilient fingers secured together ii v at one end and extending from their point of connec tion in normally divergent relationship, the div erg e'nt portions of said fingers having a minimum normal spacing therebetween that is less than the diameter of a cigarette, whereby a cigarette may be inserted and resiliently gripped therebetween, and

(b) a blade afiixed to the extended portion of each of said fingers, the distal edges of said blades, and the edges thereof at the outer ends thereof, forming the cutting edges thereof adapted to engage the surface of the bowl cavity of a conventional smoking pipe, the outer ends of said blades being normally spaced apart a distance greater than the diameter of wherein said fingers are freely flexible toward and from:

each other, but are relatively resistant to relative movement in a direction at right angles to their plane of normal relative movement, and wherein said blades extend outwardly beyond, the free ends of said fingers, the extended portions of said blades being freely flexible in a direction at right angles to the plane of normal relative movement of said fingers, but relatively resistant to flexure in a direction parallel to the plane of normal relative movement of said fingers.

3. A smoking pipe cleaning device as recited in claim 2 wherein the extended portions of said blades are normally divergent toward the extreme outer ends of said extended portions, whereby said extreme outer ends are normally spaced apart in a direction at right angles to the plane of normal relative movement of said fingers.

' 4. A smoking pipe'cleaning device as recited in claim 2 wherein each of said fingers, and its associated blade,

constitute a single flat, elongated strip of resilient material having a base portion and a blade portion, the plane of the base portion of said strip being disposed at right angles to the plane of normal relative movement of said fingers, and the plane of said blade portion being generally parallel to the plane of normal relative movement of said fingers. 5. A smoking pipe cleaning device as recited in claim 1 with the addition of:

(a) an ash tray of upwardly opening bowl form, said fingers having their connected ends secured centrally in said ash tray and extending upwardly therefrom.

References Cited JOSEPH S. REIOH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SMOKING PIPE CLEANING DEVICE COMPRISING: (A) A PAIR OF ELONGATED RESILIENT FINGERS SECURED TOGETHER AT ONE END AND EXTENDING FROM THEIR POINT OF CONNECTION IN NORMALLY DIVERGENT RELATIONSHIP, THE DIVERGENT PORTIONS OF SAID FINGERS HAVING A MINIMUM NORMAL SPACING THEREBETWEEN THAT IS LESS THAN THE DIAMETER OF A CIGARETTE, WHEREBY A CIGARETTE MAY BE INSERTED AND RESILIENTLY GRIPPED THEREBETWEEN, AND (B) A BLADE AFFIXED TO THE EXTENDED PORTION OF EACH OF SAID FINGERS, THE DISTAL EDGES OF SAID BLADES, AND THE EDGES THEREOF AT THE OUTER ENDS THEREOF, FORMING THE CUTTING EDGES THEREOF ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE SURFACE OF THE BOWL CAVITY OF A CONVENTIONAL SMOKING PIPE, THE OUTER ENDS OF SAID BLADES BEING NORMALLY SPACED APART A DISTANCE GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID BOWL CAVITY. 